Sphinx

The Great Sphinx, a colossal statue with the body of a lion and the face of a pharaoh stands at a height of around 20 meters on the west bank of the river Nile. Despite its proximity to the pyramids, the origins and purpose of the Sphinx remained a mystery. Apart from the head, rest of the body of the Sphinx is made of limestone.

Adjacent to the Sphinx, between its massive paws, lies the Dream Stele, a monumental stone tablet commissioned by Pharaoh Thutmose IV. The inscription recounts a divine encounter in which the sun god Ra promises kingship to the prince if he unearths the buried body of the Sphinx, symbolizing the link between the pharaoh and divine authority. The Sphinx has been recognized as a mythical creature in Greek mythology as well, where the Sphinx was a ruthless killer who set riddles and killed anyone who could not answer them.

Cut out from its limestone bedrock, the Sphinx is also recognized as the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt. It is the same bedrock which served as the quarry for the Pyramids of Giza. On your visit to the Sphinx, one may observe that the nummulitic limestone of the region comprises different layers offering different levels of resistance to erosion. Historians credit this characteristic of the limestone for the uneven degradation of the structure over time. It is quite fascinating to witness the manner in which the Sphinx has been carved out of the bedrock, especially when there was no such technology present to do so.